A Day Late and a Dollar Short

This morning's edited commentary from Rick Ackerman

"Here’s the headline from Saturday morning’s Boulder Camera that pushed Colorado’s big snowstorm off the front page: City Mulls Millions in Cuts. Uh-oh. Could it have been just a few short weeks ago that we were reading about how Boulder’s budget was well under control?

The story then was that the city was going to have to watch expenditures more closely than usual because of the severity of the economic downturn. Now, though, they’re talking about shutting down the recreation centers, fire stations, libraries and who knows what else. There’s also the dreaded possibility of “special tax districts” that would raise money to support services and amenities that most taxpayers must have thought they were already paying for in-full.

Could this happen where you live? We hope not, but if Boulder can be blindsided by this kind of news, it could happen anywhere. The town has never struck us as an out-of-control spender, as have other cities in which he have lived, including San Francisco and New York, and budgeting at the state level has always seemed relatively conservative.

SINCE A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE CITY'S REVENUE COMES FROM BUSINESS TAXES, shoppers and diners probably bear some of the blame for cutting back on frills."

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When businesses close, tax revenues drop and public services are cut.

My mother lives in Charlotte, NC and she told me this morning that two malls there are in bankruptcy, and a large Mitusubishi dealership just closed.

The newest and largest mall we have here in Columbia, SC, Columbiana Mall, just filed for bankruptcy as well.

Conclusion
Wall Street firms, through their mouthpiece CNBC, are trying to convince investors that we have already hit bottom and things are about to turn around.

DON'T BUY IT!

They know it's a lie and their personal accounts are out of the market. My gold supplier, who's firm is located in the Wall Street district, tells me that he is routinely having Wall Street investment firm CEOs and CFOs buy gold from him.

Follow the smart money and get out of paper.

"But gold is too high at $900 an ounce," you respond.

"Compared to what?" I ask. "Compared to $250 an ounce it was ten years ago, or compared to the $10,000 an ounce it is going to once it is all gone and you can't buy any more?"

The best time to buy gold is when you have the money. Better a year too early than a day too late.